Carle
A surname that can come from an old word for a rustic or common man, and in some cases from a place-name source such as Carlisle or a continental local name.
The #9,531 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,541 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest old-English explanation links Carle to Old English ceorl, the source of Middle English carl/churl, meaning a man of the common class, a rustic, or a sturdy fellow. In Scotland the related form carl was used in several senses, so the surname may have begun as a descriptive nickname for a man of that type. Some historical writers also treated Carle as a shortened or altered form connected with place-names such as Carlisle or with French local names like Carel, so the surname may have more than one origin.
History
The name appears in medieval records in England and later in Scotland, where related forms such as Carl and Carleman also occur. Historical surname writers noted both occupational/social-nickname uses and possible local origins, especially in gentry families of Sussex and elsewhere. Because these explanations are not identical, modern reference works usually treat Carle as a surname with mixed or uncertain origins rather than a single fixed source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers explicitly glossed carl as a word for a rustic or bondman, showing how old social vocabulary could become a family name.
From the historical record
“modifications of Carolus, Charles. CARLE. A-Sax. ceorl, a man, a rustic, a stout man. Carl is used in all these seuses in Scotland. Also see under Caryll. CARLEILL. See Carlisle. CARLEY. Scot, carlie, a little man— a diminutive of earl. Jamieson. Perhaps however local. CARLISLE. CARLYLE. The city in Cumberland.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom